Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones Re-Records ‘When the Levee Breaks’

More than 50 years after Led Zeppelin released the track “When the Levee Breaks,” the band’s John Paul Jones has taken another shot at it.

Jones — who performs the song with the help of musicians from seven different countries — has released the new version in support of the Songs Around the World Initiative, a project to help fund the Playing for Change foundation, he says. Among the other musicians contributing to the track are Jane’s Addiction’s Stephen Perkins, blues musician Buffalo Nichols and Norwegian singer Elle Márjá Eira, Jones reveals.

Although Led Zeppelin released “When the Levee Breaks” in 1971, the song is actually much older than that. It was originally recorded by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie way back in 1929 in response to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. “It seems that little has changed since 1927, or even 2005 with Katrina,” Jones says. “It’s still a really powerful track, both musically and lyrically.”

Do you consider messing with a classic Zeppelin track to be sacrilege?